Wednesday 19 August 2015

Sharing Free Motion Quilting done in class...

I am loving having an in house Studio again. Don't get me wrong, I love to travel and meet quilters from around the world but is nice to share ideas, meet new friends and help new quilters become confident all with out packing a single suit case.

This week I was teaching classes on the sit down HQ Sweet Sixteen. I was so excited for the two days of classes that I was awake at the crack of dawn and ready to start classes way before any of the students were scheduled to arrive. So I did what any quilter would do with their free time, I sat down at the sewing machine and played.
For this set of classes, as my students were newbies, it was all about free motion quilting and using a hoop to help control the fabric. This is my favorite hoop to use for my newbies. The hoop is a metal ring with a rubber coating. It is a quilt halo - by Sharon Schamber. It helps you move the quilt.



Once students become more confident and move into the advance quilter level, I teach them to use rulers with Handi Grips ( a clear adhesive grip strip that sticks to your ruler) This allows you to place your hands further apart and gives you a larger, less restricted quilting space, while it secures your quilt sandwich and guides the larger quilting area as you move through out the space between the two rulers. 



This week I had a wonderful student come to class a nerves newbie and leave class a confident quilter ready to start quilting her own quilts. I ask Mary if it would be alright with her if I shared some of her samples she stitched out in class on the Sweet Sixteen and she agreed.... so take a look...
From- Spines with Designs: Sashings class

From- Free Motion Possibilities For The True Beginner class

From- Every Little Bit Counts class

From- Spines with Designs: Blocks class

We covered 4 different classes over two days and Mary did an awesome job, I can't wait to see what she does on her next quilt top! A special thanks to Mary Weber for letting me share her wonderful work with all of you.

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